Mounties coast to girls' hockey crown, 7-1

March 17, 2011

PROVIDENCE â€” Game Two was no contest. Mount St. Charles again rules Division I in Rhode Island girls hockey.
The Mounties parried Bay Viewâ€™s best shot in the first period on Thursday night at Schneider Arena and then knocked the Bengals out with five goals in the middle stanza en route to a 7-1 victory that swept the two-game championship series.
Mountâ€™s BriaAnna Narodowy was named Most Valuable Player in the finals, taking home the Alice Sullivan Award named in honor of the pioneer of womenâ€™s sports in the Interscholastic League.
Thursdayâ€™s game remained scoreless for the first 15 minutes. After Mountâ€™s tight 2-0 victory in Game One on Wednesday night, a low-scoring contest might have been predictable, but the Mounties erupted in the second stanza, breaking the game wide open with a relentless assault on Bay View goalie Anna Procaccini.
â€śI told the girls Bay View would come out strong in the first period,â€ť Mount coach Steve Shea said. â€śI was happy to be even with them when it was over.â€ť
Bay View outshot Mount 8-6 in the first period of action. Neither team showed much offense. The pace picked up midway through the stanza when each team picked up a two-minute penalty. The Bengals had a player in the box for 27 seconds before Mount received a matching penalty.
The second period started with a strong rush by the Bengals. Alexandra Briody started a rush in the first minute that almost caught the Mountiesâ€™ defense napping. Briodyâ€™s attempted shot was stopped in a tangle of sticks. Bengalsâ€™ forward Marissa Golda sent another shot on Erban that was nixed 20 seconds later.
The Bengals kept the pressure on with Alexis Severance going in alone on Erban two minutes into the period but the Mount goalie stood tall and stopped a waist-high bid.
Mount gradually took control of the gameâ€™s tempo with two hard shots from the crease putting Bengals goalie Procaccini on her back. In the mayhem, Mountâ€™s Briana Castro was sent off the ice for two minutes due to a roughing penalty just four minutes into the middle stanza.
The Bengals couldnâ€™t get off a good shot before their own Georgianna Gouin was whistled off the ice for a two-minute penalty. Mount took charge during the 4-for-4 phase of the matching penalties but couldnâ€™t get a decent shot on net. In their 48 seconds with a man advantage after Castro came out of the box, Mount made one decent rush with no shot forthcoming.
And then came the Mount scoring explosion. Right after the penalty to Bay View ended, Mountâ€™s Caitlin Shea and Lauren Levesque chased a rolling puck into the Bengalsâ€™ zone. Procaccini waited for the rolling puck to come to her instead of going out and smothering the disc. Shea beat her to it and passed to Levesque, who beat the goalie for a 1-0 lead at the 7:16 mark.
Ten seconds later, Mount scored again when Cassandra Czarn finished off a quick rush led by Erin Rouleau and Castro.
Mountâ€™s Meredith Peppes made it 3-0 with a shorthanded goal two minutes later. Peppes broke free down the right side and beat Procaccini with a wrister from the top of the circle.
The onslaught continued at the 10:55 mark when Castro swatted in a rebound off a strong rush by Narodowy, who again attacked from the right side. Procaccini made the initial stop but the puck settled in front of the left post and Castro knocked it in.
Just 18 seconds later, the Mount struck again. Caitlin Shea scored from 10 feet in front of the beleaguered Procaccini, whose defensive teammates once again left her alone to deal with the Mountiesâ€™ balanced offense. Czarn and Levesque earned assists on the play.
The Bengals finally got the puck out of their own end and scored a strange goal off a pileup in front of the net. As the whistle blew, the puck trickled out of the pile and past Erban. Brianna Feld was credited with the goal.
After two periods, Mount held a 22-14 edge in shots on goal. By gameâ€™s end, the total would be 40-16 in Mountâ€™s favor, meaning the winners outshot the losers 34-8 over the final 30 minutes.
â€śOur bench was located in our offensive zone for the second period,â€ť Shea said. â€śThatâ€™s usually a good sign for us. And once we scored, we have a slogan that goals come in bunches. We had one strange goal there when their goalie didnâ€™t come out to meet the puck. But we had a few pretty ones, too.â€ť
Shea felt his team owned superior depth that wore the Bengals down.
â€śWe have more numbers than Bay View,â€ť the coach said. â€śI was proud of our defense tonight, too. Offense takes care of itself but defense is something you have to work at. Our girls worked at it tonight.â€ť
***
Bay View 0 â€“ 1 â€“ 0 -- 1
Mount St. Charles 0 â€“ 5 â€“ 2 -- 7
First period: No scoring.
Second period: 1. MSC, Lauren Levesque (Caitlin Shea), 7:16; 2. MSC, Cassandra Czarn (Erin Rouleau, Briana Castro), 7:26; 3. MSC, Meredith Peppes (una.), 9:29; 4. MSC, Castro (BriAnna Narodowy), 10:55; 5. MSC, Caitlin Shea (Czarn, Levesque), 11:08; 6. BV, Brianna Feld (Alexis Severance, Gabryella Procaccini), 11:40.
Third period: 7. MSC, Samantha Smith (una.), 5:33; 8. MSC, Castro (una.), shorthanded, 9:11.
Shots on goal: MSC 40, Bay View 16. Goalie saves: Sarah Erban (MSC) 15; Anastasia Procaccini (BV) 33.